Many consumers do not want to come into contact with detergent ingredients commonly used and found in detergent products, during the washing process. The detergent industry has been trying to prevent or minimize the contact between detergent ingredients and the consumer. For example, the detergent industry developed detergent tablets which minimized the generation of detergent ingredients in the form of dust when handled by a consumer during the washing process. However, these detergent tablets still produce dust when handled by consumers during the washing process. Thus, there is still a need to provide a detergent product which can be used by consumers wherein the contact between the detergent ingredients therein and the consumer is prevented or further minimized.
Attempts have been made to solve this problem by enclosing the detergent ingredients with a film, to form a detergent pouch. These pouched detergents have been further developed by the laundry industry to improve their water-solubility profile and cleaning performance.
In addition, consumers like the benefits of having unit dose detergent products, for example detergent tablets and detergent pouches. Many consumers find unit dose detergent products easier and quicker to use during the washing process. For example, by using unit dose detergent products, the amount of detergent to be used during the washing process is already pre-selected for the consumer, negating the need for the consumer to determine, and weight out, the desired amount of detergent product which can be a difficult and time consuming procedure.
Unit dose detergent products in the form of a pouch are known. For example EP0158464, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,992, U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,615, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,380 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,319 relate to a detergent pouch. Multi-compartment pouches are also known. For example, EP0236136 relates to a multi-compartment pouch. U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,410 relates to a pouch containing an aqueous liquid laundry detergent comprising alkanolamine which acts as an organic neutralisation system to improve product stability and detergent performance.
It is also known to use a multi-compartment pouch to separate bleach from solid ingredients which have a high moisture content. For example, EP0414463 relates to a multi-compartment pouch containing particulate sodium percarbonate and optionally other particulate materials in one compartment and powder ingredients containing a high free moisture content, for example aluminosilicates, in a different compartment.
However, pouches, or compartments of multi-compartment pouches, which contain a granular bleach composition, have a tendency to dispense bleach ingredients into the wash liquor in an uneven manner. For example, the bleach ingredients may be dispensed in a manner such that results in areas of the wash liquor having a high level of bleach activity, which increases the risk of patchy damage occurring to fabrics. This is especially true when the multi-compartment pouch is added directly to the drum of an automatic washing machine.
The inventors have overcome the above problem associated with the dispensing of a composition comprising a bleach ingredient from a multi-compartment pouch, by providing a composition in a water-soluble pouch, said pouch comprises at least two compartments, each compartment contains a different component of said composition, wherein a first compartment contains a first component which comprises a liquid matrix and a source of peracid.
The inventors have found that it is the source of peracid that is the problem and the inventors have found that if the source of peracid is either dissolved in a liquid, and/or is in the form of a suspended particle, then the source of peracid is more evenly dispensed from a compartment of a multi-compartment pouch, and do not remain in said compartment, or give rise to areas of increased bleach activity.
The multi-compartment pouch of the present invention also has the advantages described above, for example, enabling the source of peracid and peracid incompatible ingredients to be contained in different compartments of the pouch to increase the stability of said ingredients during storage, and to maintain the performance of the composition contained in the multi-compartment pouch.